Week 1 for Spring 2012 was an interesting time. 2 top teams are fighting immediately for CAGA league supremecy while the rest are fighting for playoff poll position.

Top team for the night were the high flying Everblades (Mike Sowa). Still riding on their Vezina winning defense from last season, they rode in on a 21 game winning streak, until their only loss of the night was against the surprising Crusaders. Still 2 points up on the trailing Red Wings, they seem confident of their chances of winning their second straight CAGA regular season championship.

Still within striking distance for the top spot are the Red Wings (David Williams). Still a major threat offensively, their defense slightly slipped . They only took 2 out of 8 points against the two other top teams, the Hitmen and the Everblades. The Wings might have a good chance of still taking 1st, but as like the Everblades, the Winged Wheelers are a full 8 points ahead of the rest of the league. This next week will determine if either top teams like the Red Wings and Everblades will get the advantage over each other.

The only other team with a .500 record or above are the Hitmen (Michael Ciaramitaro). The issue with the Hitmen is that there are 3 different versions of the team that showed up tonight. First 4 games, the Hitmen were 1-1-2, having good defense but their offense stalled. Then the offense disappeared in the next 3 games, being outscored 0-8. Then the Hitmen recovered 3-1-1 to finish up the night. Concerning the Hitmen were the sweep by the Roadrunners and splitting with Crusaders (including being shutout by the Cís). Now, what Hitman team will show up in Week 2. Having a 1-0-1 series against the Wings gave one sign, 0-2-0 vs. the Roadrunners gave another.

CAGA had a new entry into the league tonight. The Grizzlies (Bill Hunter) participated in the Stiga North American Tournament last March and decided to give a try at CAGA. The Grizzlies did make an impressive showing for a first night, falling in the middle of the pack for a 5th place spot for the night. Taking points from every team from 3rd place down was a good start for their first CAGA night. They also scored the 3rd most amount of goals for the night also, but their defense was suspect, especially against the top 3 teams (4+ goals against in 3 games). Still, the Grizzlies has created a great start for their first night and could be in a position to challenge for 3rd spot before the season is through. Having a 3-1-0 at the end of the night did show promise for week 2.

Start the night relatively strong for the night were the Admirals (Mike Waldron). In the first 10 games, the Ads were 6-3-1, which gave them a chance to finish ahead of the Hitmen for 3rd place and possibly challenge the 2nd place Red Wings. Unfortunatley, the Admirals lost the next 4 games, scoring 3 goals in the next 4 games and being shutout by the Red Wings and Everblades. Still, the Ads are only 1 point out of third place and have a chance to keep ahead of the rest of the pack. The Ads have found some new found offense that is making them a team to be reckon with.

The Lightning (Bryan Williams) were disappointed to a slow start for the night, being winless for the the first 4 games of the season, giving up 13 goals while scoring only 4 goals in ths same period. Still, the swept the rivals Crusaders and Roadrunners for the night and took points from the Hitmen and Grizzlies. Still, the Bolts are having troubles scoring goals , cranking 2 goals or less in 10 of their games tonight. Still 4 points out of 3rd place, the Lightning will need a good week and some bushels of goals to have a breakthrough this season.

Roadrunnerís coach Kevin Williams determined that this would be a season to concentrate on stingier defense and to bring more balance to the offense. The result were 6 games of giving up more that 4+ goals a game for the night. Despite having two shutouts against the Hitmen and Admirals, the coach broke the blackboard screaming about defense. If it was not for a sweep of the Hitmen, the Birds could have been sitting on the bottom of the league. The season still is young, but the a meager offense and giving up over 3 goals a game does not add up for a winning season. They are tied with the Lighting for 6th, but are in 7th due to the head to head sweep by the Bolts.

Surprises were coming from the Crusaders (Bruce Baluff) tonight . It appears that their Class D Bronze placement at the Stiga North American Tournament was no fluke. They beat the CAGA Stanley Cup Champion Everblades 2-1 in the second game of the series and almost beat them the game before. It was their first win ever against the Blades. They also took a split with the Hitmen and Admirals, so they split the series against 3 out of the 4 top teams tonight. This is quite an accomplishment for the Cís, and they are within 3 points of the 6th placed Lightning and Roadrunners, and 7 behind the 3rd place Hitmen. They were 1-3 in close one goal games tonight also. With a little luck, the Crusaders can make a run of their own.

Week 2 series will be May 4th at 7 PM. Anything is possible this season._________________-Kevin Williams
CAGA Admin